Saturday afternoon, I was heading home southbound on MoPac and spotted this northbound train experiencing some minor difficulties.

I believe that the problem is that the oil seals in the locomotive's turbocharger have failed and allowed lube oil from the bearings to be pumped into the hot side of the turbo. Intermittently, there would be enough heat to ignite the oil and send a plume of flame about 40 feet into the sky.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Figures a GE locomotive would do that. Was the train moving when you took the picture? too bad it wasn't a BNSF loco, THAT would be a good sight.

Yep, it was moving....but not too fast. Wet rail, ruling grade, long train. The wheelslip system was definitely in control.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Hmmm. I am getting rather tired of tailgating motorcyclists.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

you must have been quick to snap that one! I have never seen anything like that.

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'73 VW camper
'80 300td wagon

Great picture!! This can also happen on start-up of all of the rail diesels after long down time. Flame will often show show up in a much less spectacular way after long periods of idle in a yard and the EMD spark arrestors were there for a reason. They could start a lot of fires with the burning carbon being thrown out like a roman candle on the Fourth of July. Too bad we can't do the flame thrower thing in times of need, ie tail-gaters!!

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

You can

Take my smokescreen, substitute diesel for gas (Mabye a sparkplug too), and you have firescreen.